Finding the Right Partner(s)

While your guitar closet or band room doesn’t have to be this full, if
you’re recording music, you’ll really benefit from having many sonic
options at your disposal.

I can’t remember if it was at
Dulles or Hartsfield Jackson
in Atlanta—but there it was,
staring at me from a newsstand
rack. Mixed in with the requisite
display of coffee mugs and
stuffed mascots for the region’s
sports teams, was an illustrated
guitar shirt in full color. “One
Woman, Many Guitars,” it
announced proudly. I nodded
my head in agreement as
I scanned the graphic for my
favorite axes. I’d seen it before,
but never in this context. Art
truly does imitate life. Beyond
the idea that electric guitars were
so mainstream that they were
represented at a major airport
other than Nashville’s BNA was
the understanding that that this
particular thought was so universal.
Legions of guitarists will tell
you stories of justifying, or even
hiding, guitar purchases from
their significant other, providing
the background for the punch
line emblazoned on the shirt.

Waiting for my flight, I pondered
the concept of multiple guitar
ownership and how it
has passed from the domain of
touring or recording musicians
into the garages, basements, and
bedrooms of so many. The rising
quality of entry-level guitars has
made it possible for the average
guitarist to indulge his or her fantasy
of collecting a herd of styles
and brands of instruments—just
like their heroes. Reciprocally,
the increased volume of sales has
fueled the most recent guitar
boom in the instrument’s history.

With many Asian factories
each churning out tens of thousands
of guitars monthly, microcollections
with a variety of
famous and not-so-famous brand
names have swelled. Accordingly,
manufacturers have continued to
introduce lower-priced versions
of their iconic (or not) models to
keep pace with the trend. That
practice goes completely contrary
to my liking as a builder—and
certainly as an observer and
amateur historian of revered
brands in general. Although one
aspect of the owner’s experience
is found in a guitar’s acceptable
build quality, another is its actual
provenance. I want my Harley
built in Milwaukee and my
Colt made in Connecticut. Your
results may vary.

Another growing phenomenon
is the upgrading of ultrabudget
guitars with aftermarket
add-ons in an attempt to create
Frankenstein’s monster, where
the result equals the sum of the
parts. This, of course, tends to
ignore the main component,
which is the guitar itself. When
assembling a cadre of components
to replicate an iconic
instrument, the obvious lack
of the actual icon guarantees
failure at one level, despite the
sonic payoff. It’s still a kit guitar.

Not every guitarist wants a
fake Ferrari in the garage, which
brings us to the other reason to
collect different types of guitars.
Once the emotional hero-worship
or status-symbol pieces are
in place, the new-breed collector
stumbles upon the same thing
that pros have learned over time:
Every instrument has a personality
and a place. The oldest cliché
in the book—equating tonalities
with colors on a painter’s
palette—may not be the most
exciting way to look at collecting
guitars, but it certainly is practical.
It is, very nearly, like the
way you’d approach putting
together a pedalboard.

In a bigger picture, we all
know that Strats and Teles sound
different from a Les Paul. They
all play differently and that
makes you react to them in a
different way. When you lay out
the foundation of a tune, you
can alternate between the articulate
twang of single-coils or the
full-throttle roar of humbuckers.
Sometimes the deep growl of a
baritone can inspire an entire
composition. But when you
need a special, sonic signature
to fill in a little gap or make the
bridge in a song stand out, that’s
when a small collection of different
guitars can come in handy.
Personally, I enjoy when an artist
employs an unusual sound in a
song. It makes me remember it
and wait for it to come around.
A 12-string is good for that and
Nashville tuning does it too.

Certain guitars work better
with different tunings. Longer
scales allow you to lower the pitch
without losing clarity. On the
other hand, shorter-scale guitars
(24.75" or 23") emit some great
pinch-harmonics when detuned. I
keep a Telecaster around the house
that’s pared down to five strings
and tuned to open G for rhythm
and slide. It’s great for adding a
classic-rock sound to a song’s hook
or signature riff. You may not be
a shredder, but a locking-trem
guitar might just be the ticket for
memorable single-note lines within
the context of a country tune.
If you think of your collection as
individual solutions that address
a wide range of sonic questions,
you’ll find that you can never have
too many options and almost
every guitar has something to
offer. The good part is that your
Wandre won’t get jealous if you
have a little fling with a Gretsch.

The bottom line is that a
guitar doesn’t need to have your
ultimate dream-tone in order to
be collectible or usable. In fact,
sometimes the weirder sounding
a guitar is, the better. When people
ask what my favorite guitar
is, I honestly can’t give them an
answer. Unlike a good partner, it
depends upon the situation.

Jol Dantzig is a
noted designer, builder,
and player who co-founded
Hamer Guitars,
one of the first boutique
guitar brands, in 1973.
Today, as the director of
Dantzig Guitar Design, he continues to
help define the art of custom guitar. To
learn more, visit guitardesigner.com.

Jol Dantzig is a noted designer, builder, and player who co-founded Hamer Guitars, one of the first boutique guitar brands, in 1973. Today, as the director of Dantzig Guitar Design, he continues to help define the art of custom guitar. To learn more, visit guitardesigner.com.

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